Sunday letters: The Kavanaugh hearing

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh answers a question about guns from Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., during a third round of questioning on the third day of his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Thursday, Sept. 6, 2018.

Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, STF / Associated Press

Release documents

Regarding “Eminently qualified Kavanaugh facing hostile Democrats” (Page A14, Friday), columnist Cal Thomas is amused that the media and we the people want to know the real Brett Kavanaugh. Instead of being amused, he should be concerned that the Trump administration has blocked thousands of documents that would accurately paint a picture of a Supreme Court nominee. Did we see that when liberal candidates went through the confirmation hearings? What are people like Thomas afraid of? What are people like Thomas trying to hide? We the people want to know.

Anthony Bristol, Houston

Confirmation can wait

Regarding "Advise and dissent taking on a circus-like atmosphere” (Page A14, Wednesday), columnist Kathleen Parker apparently thinks Democrats are creating a circus of obstruction by complaining about the Monday night release of 42,000 pages of Brett Kavanaugh documentation. But she fails to mention another more important objection raised by Democrats: the fact that the president has been implicated in a felony by his personal lawyer.

President Nixon famously said, “People have go to know whether or not their president is a crook.” The possibility of a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court by a felon is an issue that Republicans need to confront. Republicans denied President Obama’s Supreme Court appointment creating an empty seat on the court for more than a year. Delaying the confirmation of Kavanaugh for a few months to determine whether Trump is a crook is not an unreasonable demand.

Kenneth Meyers, Houston

Children are watching

Kathleen Parker provided a candid account of theBrett Kavanaugh, confirmation hearing. For those who watched, it was a scary, depressing view into the deep divide the current political fracas has plunged us. The scenes caused by our nation’s most intelligent, respectable statesmen and women were no comparison, however, for how sorry I felt for Kavanaugh and his family. They walked in with smiles and all the anticipation and eagerness that such a hearing meant to this family and to see their expressions change to concern and worry and then to have to take the children out of the room because of the visible and very real hostility was heart wrenching.

Even when politicians from both sides of the aisle agree that Kavanaugh is one of the most qualified individuals in the country to be considered for this post, the obsession of Democrats to derail and cause chaos in the name of political partisanship obliterated all possibility of disciplined and meaningful dialogue.

Parker was spot-on in her summary of this pretense of duty by Democrats to save face for not getting to nominate the candidate. I hope it was enough for them. Because we all get to live with the image of hurt and shock on the faces of two young girls as the adults around them dissolved into barely disguised hatred and disrespect. Surely, we owe the next generation better than this.

J. Purtill, Richmond

Accidental discharge

Regarding “Houston police officer mistakenly fires AR-15 at Hobby Airport” (Chron.com, Friday), always check the safety selector here and there. It happens especially if you have the rifle on a sling, the safety selector gets caught in your gear and goes from safe to fire.